Scenes from a Shore Leave (or Four)
by Settiai
Summary: Scenes from a friendship, one shore leave at a time. :: Ben Krieg, Lucas Wolenczak


**(i)**

"Captain Bridger is going to kill us!" Lucas hissed.

Ben waved his hand dismissively. "The captain will do no such thing," he protested, with the air of someone who knew exactly what he was talking about. "Why would he? If anyone asks, we spent all day playing tourist and enjoying the sights of the island."

Lucas stared at him, a disbelieving look on his face.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Do you seriously think he's not going to find out about this?" Lucas asked. "We're wanted by the police!"

"No, no, no," Ben said, shaking his head. "_We_ are not wanted by the police. Two unknown men who happen to vaguely resemble us are wanted by the police. They never got our names, remember?"

"Because we ran out the back door!"

Ben shrugged. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

Lucas buried his face in his hands. "Hang out with me during shore leave, you said," he grumbled. "It will be fun, you said. I know a bar that doesn't care about identification, you said."

"Hey, you're the one who was complaining about not having any fun during leave because you're underage," Ben pointed out.

"And you're the one who punched the undercover cop in the face," Lucas shot back. "Twice!"

Ben shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, technically I didn't know he was a cop until _after_ he was unconscious. I thought he was going for a weapon, not a badge."

Lucas groaned. "Like I said, the captain is going to kill us."

* * *

**(ii)**

Ben sputtered as his head popped above the surface, and splashed as he treaded water. "What happened?"

Lucas popped up beside him, coughing. "You capsized the boat!"

"I did no such thing!" Ben protested. "All I did was—"

"Stand up and cause the boat to flip over!" Lucas cut in. "That's kind of the definition of capsizing!"

Ben sputtered a little more before rolling his eyes and looking away. "I was provoked!"

"You were waving at a half-naked blonde woman on the dock!" Lucas paused. "She's laughing at us, by the way."

Ben opened and closed his mouth a few times. Then he glanced back at the dock. "Yeah, she is, isn't she?"

"This is all your fault," Lucas muttered, taking a few strokes so he could grab hold of the upside down boat. "You do realize we're never going to hear the last of this, don't you?"

Ben shot him a theatrically hurt look. "You're planning on telling people about this?"

Lucas glared at him before gesturing over Ben's shoulder toward the _seaQuest_. "Of course not," he said, rolling his eyes "but I'm pretty sure that _they're_ planning on telling people."

Ben paused. "How many people were watching?"

Lucas sighed and didn't answer. "Help me get this thing flipped back over, will you?"

"Ah," Ben said. "That many, huh?"

* * *

**(iii)**

"You're gonna be fine, kid," Ben said, patting Lucas on the arm. It would have been a lot more reassuring if his face hadn't gone gray the moment he'd taken a look at Lucas's very much broken leg. "O'Neill and Ortiz will be back with help before you know it."

Lucas shifted a little, trying to push himself up into more of a sitting position, but he hissed as a sharp pain shot up his leg. "Well, I've got to admit, you were right," he said dryly. "This is definitely more memorable than spending all day in the city."

Ben had the good grace to look a little sheepish. "Ortiz told me that it was a short hiking trip," he said. "He didn't say anything about having to climb a cliff."

"I'm pretty sure this doesn't actually count as a cliff," Lucas said doubtfully, looking back up at the steep hill he'd gone tumbling down.

"It looks like a cliff to me," Ben grumbled. His grip on Lucas's arm tightened a bit. "How's the leg?"

Lucas snorted, regretting it almost instantly when it caused another stabbing pain. "How do you think?" he asked. "It feels like it's broken."

Ben gave him a sheepish look. Then he slowly started to grin. "Hey, look on the bright side."

Lucas stared at him for a second and then raised an eyebrow. "I'm scared to ask."

"At least this will give you an excuse to finally talk to that hot nurse you've been talking about for weeks," Ben said brightly.

* * *

**(iv)**

"Rise and shine!" Lucas said brightly, dropping down in the chair beside Ben's bed. "Your shift starts in a little over an hour."

Ben groaned, burrowing under the covers. "I want to die."

Lucas grinned. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself last night," he said, his eyes twinkling.

There was a pause. Then Ben cracked open one eye and peered at Lucas. "Last night?" he repeated.

Lucas leaned back in his chair. "Yep," he said, nodding. If anything, his grin grew bigger. "What? Do you not remember what happened?"

Ben furrowed his brow. Then his eyes widened a little, and he finally sat up. "Oh, crap. Ortiz's birthday party."

"Commander Ford didn't ask any questions about where we got the truck to get us back to the dock on time," Lucas said brightly. "I think it's because he was too busy staring at Lieutenant O'Neill's black eye. I don't even think he noticed that you and Ortiz were wearing each other's clothes."

Ben blinked a few times. "I—we—wait, what?"

Lucas smiled innocently at him. "What? Your memory's not a little blurry, is it?"

Ben opened and closed his mouth a few times but never actually got a word out. Then he took a closer look at Lucas's face and narrowed his eyes. "You're making this entire thing up, aren't you?"

Lucas put his hand over his heart. "Ben, I'm hurt," he said theatrically. "Would I lie to you?"

"That would be a 'yes,' huh?" Ben asked dryly.

Smirking, Lucas reached down to pick up the glass of water he'd placed there when he first came in. "You're probably going to want this."

"You're a brat," Ben said, rolling his eyes. He gladly took the offered water, though.

Lucas grinned. "That's why you love me." He paused for a moment, his mouth twitching. "Nice shirt, by the way."

Ben stared at him. Then he looked down, blinking at the brightly patterned Hawaiian shirt he was wearing. "Wait, this isn't mine."

"Nope," Lucas said cheerfully. "Would this be a bad time to tell you I have photos?"

Ben groaned.


End file.
